"The change to the I-40 off-ramp will address a safety concern by providing additional storage to the ramp and preventing the possibility of traffic backing up on I-40," Flynn said.

Resurfacing is needed due to the age of the existing pavement and the heavy commercial traffic volume at the intersections. That, however, will push costs for the work higher.

The need for signals at this intersection has been a long-time issue. Officials with the city of Cookeville asked TDOT to conduct a traffic study at that intersection in 2014. The study included looking at traffic counts and crash history.

The location met the criteria set forth in the Federal Highway Administration's Manual of Urban Traffic Control Devices and crash data, which qualified it for safety funding.

When plans were announced last September, the timeline was to get started in early 2018. Now that timeline has been pushed back — the estimated date to open bids on the project is May 2019.

"There are no right-of-way acquisitions on this project, but there are utility relocations that can take up to nine months," Flynn said.

The new estimated price tag and amount of funding were not immediately available.

Required environmental studies and documents are being updated to address the revised design and is scheduled for approval by March 2018.

Allowing for a two-year construction period, the projected construction completion date would be May 2021.

That junction is the site of many crashes and near-misses due to the heavy commercial traffic that gets on and off there.